Journey of 1000 Miles
This is the second chapter of the '''Substitute of Cross arc' written by Fenix-Taichō, Feel free to comment on the talk page.'' ---- ''-The scene is a fairly large, dark room, lit with several computer monitors. There were a few figures walking around this room, while some sit in front of the monitors, like machines working on machines. A particular entity, sitting on a seat in the center of the supposed room, watched them all work quietly. His arms folded across his chest, his face covered by darkness, thanks to the dimly lit room-'' "So...." a fairly adult voice spoke aloud next to the man in the seat. He was also partially consumed with shadow, though one could make him out to be a man of average height and little build. Brown hair coming down to the back of his neck and light purple glasses were his only distinguishing features as he spoke. "...we still haven't found her yet?" "No." the seated being mused with a low, reluctant voice, sighing. "She continues to ellude me, somehow." "Perhaps we should send out a few more soldiers to find her?" the assistant said. "At our current rate, we haven't sent out enough search parties to find anything of value..." "If we were to do that," the seated man replied, leaning forward in his seat slightly. "we would only attract the attention of the other Divisions, and I would prefer that they not be involved. Not yet, at least." "True...true." the assistant replied with a sigh. "It's a shame, but in a way, uplifting as well. The fact that she managed to escape her cell so quietly and effectively speaks volumes of her potential." "Which is why I must ''have her back." the man's superior said in return with a slightly more demanding and determined voice. After a few minutes, he sat back and let his tone and posture relax more, folding his hands together calmly and speaking in a more composed and confident tone. "She'll show back up soon. She can't stand to be by herself, and she'll seek the company of someone strong." ---- ''The scene switches to a raining highway a couple of miles from the city, with a fairly long plain off to it's right. As the camera zooms out, an ape like Hollow turns it's head to the still zooming out camera's left, and a bullet blows right through the creatures head, causing it to erupt into a torrent of blood. Soon, more Hollows of various size and shape begin to appear on screen, and they all appear to be charging towards one particular, offscreen source. '' ''One by one, their heads, arms, and various other body parts begin to explode from bullet impacts. They all fall and begin to fade away. However, one of them, the smaller ones, has managed to survive the onslaught; it's legs blown out from under it, but it uses it's arms to try to crawl away from their attacker. Unfortunatley, the latter's black boot slams down onto the Hollow's back. Too weary to defy it, the Hollow slumps it's head down, before a bullet from the above attacker's gun blows through it's head. The attacker, who's form is visible only by the sun, gazes down at it's dead target with an emotionless gaze. His two guns come down to his sides, and are sheathed in their respective holsters. ---- ''-The scene switches back to the laboratory-'' The seated man grinned slightly, from his barely visible face. "Someone strong enough to warrant the Gotei 13's attention." ---- The morning after the Hollow attack on Tobias he awoke, confused and scared. Looking at his cat Ura he wondered if it was just a dream. "You can't talk can you?" He asked the small animal. "I can indeed, it was not a dream Master Tobi," Ura said as he cleaned his paw. "It is time for school, get up" He said as he jumped down as Sarah entered the room with Tobias' breakfast. "Feeling any better?" She asked before setting the food on the night stand. "My head is spinning, who was that man from last night, and why did you call him Master Yue?" Tobias asked Ura who avoided the question. "It is none of your concern, young master, just worry about getting better," He said as he ran out the room to eat. "It will take some time to get used to him talking huh?" Sarah asked as she stood up. "Get fed and dressed, we need to leave in 30 minutes." Tobias at his breakfast and looked outside, it was raining again and he started to take in the magnitude of what was thrown into his lap. He wasn't normal and the world was filled with more than just spirits. Ding-Dong! "Excuse me?" A ring was heard at the house's doorbell, followed by the voice of a young woman. "Today's paper is here. I don't mean to barge in or anything, but I'd hate for any of you to have to walk out in this rain and get it...or have the paper damaged too." she continued, confirming that she was a courier. Sarah answered the door and smiled at the girl. "Thank you for your consideration," She said as she took the paper. "Is there anything you need?" She asked as Tobias was coming down the steps. Seeing his sister talking to a girl and he fixed his blazer. "Who is that sis?" Tobias asked. "It is a courier, don't worry Mom already left so lets get gong to school," Sarah said as she grabbed an umbrella. "Excuse me miss, we have to be going." Sarah said kindly as she and her brother left their apartment. "Oh, alright then..." the short haired woman replied, before quickly shutting the door and trying to catch up with the two. "Wait! Do your parents let you walk to school by yourselves all the time like this? It's pretty dangerous, especially in this rain." Turning, Sarah replied, "Yes, it's not that far after all." The twins walked they started down the steps to the main level of the complex in order to attend classes at Cross Prep. Tobias hesitated as they went into the rain, as Ura was hiding in his backpack. Choosing the safer route of taking his newly found familiar to school rather than being defenseless he continued and joined his sister under the large umbrella. Looking back he noticed that the courier had an abnormal amount of spiritual energy, something else he was told about the previous night. The courier woman simply stopped as the two kept going into the school. She watched as they made their way inside, almost acting like a parent or a guardian of them of sorts. It was true; she was a bit more protective of children than she would normally like, but it was more of an instinct rather than a bad habit. "Okay..." she said to them as they left. "Have a nice day...or try to, at least." She sighed as she noticed that she still had quite alot of newspapers to deliver. "Well...I'd better get back to it." And with that, she left to continue her day job as normal. The Day the Earth Stood Still Tobias walked into the building and ran straight for his locker, seeing if anyone was around he opened it and put Ura inside who hissed at him, before asking, "Why are you leaving me in here?" Looking at his cat he replied, "Because I can't have anyone seeing you in my bag." The two had a minor argument until Fleur Delano walked up behind them. "Hey Tobias, whatcha doing?" She asked causing him to slam his locker shut in Ura's face. "Nothing just getting my books for Mrs. Delano's class," He said hoping she didnt see Ura in his locker. "Oh, ok, I thought you were talking to someone for a second," She said with a giggle before walking away, dragging him by his sleeve. "Come on, you know my mom hates when we're late." The day went on slowly that was until the lunch bell rang. Outside the building students gathered to eat their lunches on the beautiful day, however the calmness was shattered by a large squid-like Hollow. It's skin was dark green, and it's face was concealed by a large, skull like mask with piercing yellow eyes. With a violent lash, the monster shot one of it's tentacles out at Tobias in particular, tearing through several other chairs and a support column of the building as it took hold of his leg and pulled him towards it's mouth, aiming to eat him whole in one fell movement. Tobias fell and was dragged along the ground, sensing the danger, Ura broke out of the locker and ran outside before firing several fire balls from his mouth. As a few hit the tentacles holding Tobias, he landed next to him and gave some basic instructions on how he could fight this monster. "Master Tobias, I need you to focus on my words...... We need to merge using Kītsu." "Kītsu? What is that?" Tobias asked frantically. "Calm down, it is a demonic merging technique that is only possible by Familiars and their masters, It requires us to be in sync and will allow you to fight this Hollow," Ura explained before jumping onto his head. "Just call out Gattai!" Listing to his cat, he calmed down a bit and focused on Ura, as he closed his eyes he started to feel their energies merge, which was a strange sensation, and when he opened his eyes he called out, "Gattai!" In a flash of light, the two combined, and when the light faded, Tobias was replaced by another being. Cloaked in a black robe, this new figure had red hair and matching red wings. "Kītsu Completed," He said as he prepared to fight. The monster reared it's head back in an initial surge of surprise at it's prey's sudden transformation, but nonetheless, it persisted in it's efforts to kill and devour him. Regenerating it's lost tentacle, the monster opened it's mouth and a cyan colored sphere of energy began to for just a few inches from it's maw. The sphere was then unleashed in the form of a large beam, a Cero, directed right at Tobias. Dodging the Cero by flying out of the way, the figure held out his arm and a bone cross bow appeared, which he pulled the string back in order to fire a fire arrow at the beast. Mentally Tobias spoke to Ura. So how does this work? who is controlling this body? Ura replied, At the moment, I am, however this link is weakening the longer the battle progresses. The arrow flew into the upper left head of the Hollow, causing it to briefly rear itself back and roar in pain. However, it pulled itself back together and roared at Tobias in anger. It's front three tentacles extended out towards it's target, and their ends shifted from tentacle tips into skull like heads. They all three opened their mouths, along with the main head, and they all fired Ceros of similar size and color to the last at Tobias, aiming to blow him apart. Trying to keep the fusion together, Ura flew and dodged two of the three, however the third clipped his left wing causing him to fall from the sky. Picking himself up he fired another arrow however once it fired the fusion failed, causing the two to split. "Oh no!" This time, the arrow missed it's target, as the Hollow managed to slide itself to the right and avoid the attack. Now, with his target split from his source of power and vulnerable, the creature prepared to make it's move... ...but before he could do so, a blue bolt of energy from above came into his head and caused it to squirm wildly in pain. The source of the attack was revealed to be the female courier from earlier, wearing her original attire and holding a black katana. She glanced behind at Tobias and spoke in a serious tone. "Are you alright?" she asked him. Looking up he saw her and smiled, alittle scared that she held similar powers to his sister. "I am, I guess, this is all new to me still." He replied as he held Ura in his arms, the cat injured by the Cero attack, having shielded Tobias from harm. To this, the woman smiled and nodded. "Good. Now, you and your friend get as far back from here as you can. This will be swift, but if you remain here, you might get burned a little." She then turned and saw one of the skull-headed tentacles head right for her in a violent lash. However, with a vertical slash, she split the limb into two pieces, and as she brought the weapon down, a small burst of blue fire was shot at the monster's face. This burned right through the center of his head, and the monster slumped over, slain from the woman's attack. Taking her advice, Tobias had taken Ura and made an effort to place distance between her and the Hollow. Landing he looked up to see Fleur, and Sarah looking at him with scared expressions. "What was that thing, how did you transform, what is going on!?" Fleur exclaimed, her European accent ringing in Tobias' ears as Sarah took him by his collar and headbutted him, knocking him out cold. "Sorry, but I need to take my brother to the nurse, excuse me Fleur," Sarah said as she picked up her older brother and carried him into the building on her shoulder while holding Ura in her free arm. The courier woman sheathed her sword back into the form of a Quincy cross, and quickly caught up with the girl and her brother. "I'm coming with you, just in case." she said to them both. Taking her brother out the back of the school, Sarah led the courier to Heartland Shop, three blocks from the building. Carrying her brother was difficult but she managed. "So you are a Quincy too?" Sarah asked the courier as she noticed Ura had healed and was stirring in her bag. "Yeah, I am." the courier replied. "I try my best to protect the city from Hollow attacks when I can, but Cross City is a pretty big place; there's no way I can get to all of them in time." The Boy with Questions Stirring in his sleep, Tobias awoke and screamed out from his throbbing headache. Looking around he saw his sister, the courier, Ura and in an instant, Yue Nisshōkirite. "Why are you here Shinigami?!" He yelled at his father, not knowing the truth. Hearing the yelling, Rose walked into the backroom. "What is all the commotion, oh it's you Yue....why have you come back?" "Why hello Rose, it has been a while....." Yue said as he bowed and kissed her hand, only to reel back when he was smacked by the woman. "Don't act like I have forgiven you...... you left me and your children behind, how dare you come back!" Rose screamed and shouted to which Tobias stopped his mother. "C...children?.... is this Shinigami, our father?" Tobias asked as he fell back, trying to get away from the god of death.